The Best & Worst Park Surprises: Expectation vs Reality 

"the trains are bumping into each other"- the entire uk just collectively winced

“I don’t usually hate on parks, with a few exceptions...” Groans in Six Flags America

“It’s your funeral” -GPS

My biggest surprise was was gemini, it was so fun

Remember when visiting a park, you always got to have the right expectations. So if you expect La Ronde to be absolute trash, then you will not be disappointed.

“I don’t want to visit Worlds of Fun” *going to worlds of fun twice this year*

Best surprises: Monster at adventure land Classic coaster at Washington's state fair Talon dorney park Ragin Bull Great america and Oscars wacky taxi at sesame place

Even though I had high expectations going in due to what I had heard about the it, Holiday World was still all pleasant surprises for me. They’ve got coasters that rival or in most cases exceed the giant parks, but still manage to keep the feel of a small family run park. I mean, what kind of insane park owner offers guests free parking? They must get it back with the food prices once they trap you inside the park. What? Everything except soft drinks is very reasonably priced, and the only thing “unreasonable” about those is that they’re free too? They’re less than a day drive from Six Flags Great America, Kings Island, and Cedar Point, but they more than hold their own against any of them.

Elitch's was my home park growing up, so I have fond memories of just spending time with family and friends. Now my home park is Cedar Point, and let's just say I never knew growing up what I was missing out on...

I always tell people this: Disney World is FAR better than Disneyland/CA Adventure, but Disneyland is better than Magic Kingdom.

Hopefully Corona doesn’t disrupt your visit to Canada’s Wonderland

Great video!! I live one hour away from Six Flags America. That place is just awefull!! I do love Six Flags Jersey!!

It was really cool to see Darien Lake as one of the good surprises, I live less than an hour away, although Seabreeze technically counts as my home park, and I love going there.

Six flags New England is a great park! Glad you enjoyed my home park. As soon as goalith is gone and get a good number three we rise more!

Superman breaking down every run, eh? I feel like you described Top Thrill Dragster

Silver Dollar City blew me away. I was excited about time traveler and outlaw run, but I wasn't really expecting much from the other rides. I found the mine ride a little rough, but everything else was awesome. It is behind only cedar point as my #2 park, which I wasn't expecting given how the coaster lineup stacks up to parks like kings island, magic mountain, great America, or the top 4 at carowinds and top 3 at kings dominion. Atmosphere was just amazing. A very small thing, but starting out the day saying the pledge of allegiance just set the tone for a whole different world than what I've experienced at most other parks. The included cave tour was also a neat surprise. He had a hard time with outlaw run, but I don't think I've seen my dad enjoy a park that much in several years.

Six Flags Fiesta Texas / Great America were huge surprises for me! Didn´t expect such great and beautiful parks by SF. :) Indiana Beach had a surprisingly nice atmosphere and with the 3 wooden coasters very good rides. Worst surprises were SF St. Louis (I´m still missing the boomerang-credit after 2 visits), Marineland (Dragon Mountain is awesome, but the park itself is very bad), SF Darien Lake (Only Ride of Steel and Tantrum were good, but RoS is the weakest Intamin I know) or Ferrari World Abu Dhabi (3 out of 7 rollercoasters running, Flying Aces in maintenance)

Worst surprise for me: I went to Six Flags America on December 28, 2019 and it was so busy that they were using the overflow lot. I've never seen it used before and actually didn't even notice that it was there until this visit. The worst part though was that only about a 1/3 of the park was open, which I expected, but I just wasn't expecting it to be so packed. Best surprise: Coincidentally, my best surprise was at the same place as my worst. I visited for the first time in June 2019, and to my surprise, every coaster was running 2 trains. There were no breakdowns. The park was clean, and there was almost no one there.

Good surprises: HersheyPark Universal Hollywood (after Harry Potter Opened) Knott’s Berry Farm Bad surprises: Six Flags Discovery Kingdom (I always seem to leave disappointed, only have visited in Spring though)

Yeah SFGA my home park!

I’m so glad you’re giving Worlds of Fun another chance. Because that’s the only park in the area I grew up going there, and I can’t tell you how amazing this park is to the people that go every year. Once Mamba is open, and the retracking is done on Timber Wolf (which deserves way more love than it gets from people), it’ll be a better experience. So much history at the park that no one talks about! I hope it’s more enjoyable this time around.

I had only been to Disney World before visiting Busch Gardens when I was 8 with my family and some family friends, and it is where I rode my first coaster, The Loch Ness Monster. I came back with my cousin when I was fourteen and riding the roller coasters and enjoying the familiar atmosphere was amazing. It was even better than I remember.

SFGAm is always a blast and it’s near impossible to get bored. The variety is great (not just in coasters, but flats as well), and the park is always so busy that you won’t have time for downtime. Also, LOL at being disappointed by Disney World because you didn’t know it was more than the Magic Kingdom. Bruh.

My day at Silver Dollar city was wack. Powder Keg and Outlaw run were closed, but the day was saved by the food and time traveler.

I would definitely agree with the Fun Spot one, at least for Kissimmee, as I didn’t get to go to the Orlando one, even though we were going to. It is affordable, well kept, and has a nice collection of rides, especially now with Hurricane.

Yeah... my home park had been SFoG for my whole life until I moved to college in Denver. Elitch is about 15 minutes away from campus so obviously I bought a season pass! But oh man that park is a mess. Twister II isn’t that bad but they really don’t have anything I would call “good”. The most I really got out of going was I realized how lucky I was to have such a good home park growing up!

Pro tip, sfgam is not a place to visit during fright fest. Another pro tip, the OG Batman at sfgam has no wait and if it has a line, the OPS send everyone through super fast.

I have to write an addendum for Silver Dollar City. I went back on April 5th of this year and they were running on all cylinders! They were extremely accommodating and all the rides were top notch! Outlaw Run was smoother than last time, time traveler is still elite, and even Fire in the Hole was surprisingly fun! Cinnamon bread yes plz! They really recovered from last time, the patrons being less drunk!

The last thing I expected to see was my home park Silverwood on here. The park is small compared to most because the population in our area is much smaller. But us locals love it. You should come back when it’s scarywood!

there shall always be 3 meme parks - Michigan's Adventure, SFA, and La Ronde

I used to live in Denver, so Elitch Gardens was my home park throughout my teens. And simply put, it was never a good park. Even in its best days, operations were glacial paced, food tasted like cardboard while priced like gourmet, nothing would ever get updated, and so on. Back when it was a Six Flags park it was OK at best, but after they sold the park Elitch Gardens still kept the Six Flags pricing in every category. And really they got away with it because they are the largest park in Colorado, and you've have to drive several hours to find anything better (there is Lakeside Amusement Park down I-70, but that's an aging little fairground that needs its own help). Last few years there's been serious talk of the park getting demolished to make room for more housing, and while I'd be sad to see my childhood park close, it might be for the best. If only CO had any real park beyond Elitch Gardens.

Canada's Wonderland is my home park, and it can get insanely busy in the summer. I get a season's pass but only go in May and June. Once elementary/high school is out and July comes, it's no longer worth it.

9:12 They always run one train on everything.

Airtime thrills, if you want a good experience at Canadas Wonderland, go early September and arrive there at around 8:30 am because the crowds are light, and there is no assigned seating

My best surprise was King’s Island during the 2018 season. I’ve been there twice before, but both times as a gp and small child, but my 3rd visit blew me away. I was able to appreciate the history behind the park and their underrated collection of coasters. With Orion hopefully opening this season I can’t wait to go back in the future

It’s funny how Six Flags moved both inverted boomerangs across the country. When they could of moved just a few hours north, granted Idaho to So Cal is much further than Jersey to Massachusetts.

You always expect to go on all the rides but then the big crowds ruin it for you

My biggest suprise was Alton towers. Worst suprise. Six flags america. Jokers jinx closed. Batwing closed. Almost everything was closed.

Cant wait for your elitch gardens experience. It's my home park now, got season tickets last year for the family....never feel I need to go back again until it's been moved with the twister 2 RMCd. I'd rather marathon cyclone at lakeside amusement park all day on a Saturday

Wohoo finally someone mentioning Funspot! They're a good, cheap alternative for florida based theme parks, and a year pass lets you go to all of their parks and gokarts are included!

Best experience: Holiday World, August 18, 2019. It was so uncrowded that there were virtually no lines anywhere. On top of that, parking was free, and it was a pleasant surprise to see free drink machines and free sunscreen scattered around. The whole park was clean (literally the only piece of litter I saw was a crunched Pepsi cup), and absolutely no employees were rude all day. Too bad it's not my home park. :-( Worst experience: Six Flags Great Adventure, April 3, 2016. I know that this was obviously not Six Flags's fault, but there were some unexpected, strong winds from the morning into the afternoon. Most of the rides were closed as a result. It didn't help that it was 40-something degrees anyway before the high winds suddenly kicked in during the morning. To top it all off, attendance was so low from the closed rides and bad weather that the park closed impromptu at 3:00. The visit was just bad timing and nothing more. I hope to eventually get back, on a day with normal weather (this was, unfortunately, my only visit so far).

14:07 Coming from an enthusiast. That can't be safe

I went to King's Island back in 2012, it was truly a great park. As for Elitch Gardens, that park is going to be demolished.

Hey King, I’m not GP but also not a super enthusiast. I keep up with a couple coaster channels. Just wanted to say I appreciate how you not only put out consistent content, but you switch it up and have original ideas and content!

Airtime Thrills, fav coaster channel, keep it up man, Sophie was rlly cute in the pier review!!

That Cedar Point line at the beginning was perfect! Great video !!!

I REALLY wish that six flags would for a few years take a break from their bigger parks like Magic Mountain and Great Adventure and really focus on building up their smaller parks like my home park Six Flags America and another park like La Ronde. When people trash on my home park it really hurts :(

You know Elitch is bad when their most popular coaster is an SLC! I'll consider myself lucky that all the coasters were open on the day that I went.

As someone from Denver... this doesn't surprise me

Hopefully Elitch's will relocate and RMC Twister. I for one would love to see Twisted Twister.

As a someone who used to go to Six Flags Great America 3 times a week, thanks for putting us at 2nd 🥰

Sadly with Silverwood being the only theme park I’ve ever been able to get to, I have to deal with these subpar wooden coasters for years that everyone loves for some reason! The owner is much more focused on the atmosphere which you can really tell and appreciate, a lot of the coasters are very old and cheap that he bought when they were very low on budget and he was trying to actually start making money which is understandable but quite annoying when you want to ride some great coasters but don’t want to have to take a 3 hour plane ride to the closest “good” park!

Fright fest at great America was not a good idea this year. It was crowded except during the parade when me and my friend just marathoned eagle which was really fun.

My intro to theme/amusement parks was a place in Gulfport Mississippi (don’t remember the name) which was a “water park” which consisted of 3 concrete courses you rode a foam pad down to a wade pool...however, lose the pad and you were pushed by rushing water down rough concrete until you hit the bottom...genuinely surprised a place like that could be open to the public and hadn’t been sued but all I can say is 1989...

If it helps, Elitch is getting demolished soon

My childhood park is here! I went to Silverwood 3 times as part of of a church summer camp. It was my first real theme park (besides one trip to Disneyland when I was 9). It would be interesting for me to go back now, after two years working at Universal, to compare.

Worst Surprise: SFOG closing till May 22

I had really high expectations for Carrowinds and they were certainly surpassed. The park was dead and I had fast lane plus, so almost everything was a walk on. I got like 10 rides on Fury, 12 on Intimidator, and 9 on Copperhead Strike. That trip was definitely my best park visit.

You had me concerned @ 0:35-0:37. The one train ops during the fair is embarrassing, but thankfully I'm a musician and not in that park. Yet: I was relieved to have come to the end of this video to have discovered you never mentioned the one train ops at Playland during the fair. The rest of this video was great too, BTW. Stay safe and let's hope I can get to SFGA in N.J. for the third time ever, my last being 39 years ago. (During the era of Lightening Loops)

Bad surprise: Lake Compounce tops my list. Six Flags over Georgia also: great lineup, but very poor operations, constant breakdowns, & line jumping was ridiculous on all my visits. Good surprises: Six Flags New England or Mt Olympus would top my list. Dollywood is up there too, even though I had very high expectations for it. Also Six Flags Great Adventure, Kings Dominion, Darien Lake, Michigan's Adventure, & Indiana Beach.

10:54 They changed it to Superman: The Ride

Elitches is my home park. Still the worst park I have ever been too.

I grew up near Mason, Ohio, so I have a lot of memories at Kings Island, but after moving to South Carolina, I haven’t gone up to Ohio in 8 years and I want to experience rides I wasn’t able to when I was younger

January 2007 at magic mountain, 7 rides were frozen over and didn’t run all day. Only got to ride Batman, super man, scream, Goliath, colossus, gold rusher, viper and revolution. Good ones for the most part but still a disappointment. My trips in the summer of 2008 and when I lived there in 2011 were much better. Being a Floridian it was not something I was expecting. Only time I have to worry about shut downs here is from thunderstorms

Never realized how goated great America is and thought every amusement park was as good before I went to any other ones.

You went to DollyWood when their was a legal dispute over Lighting Rod. The park wanted to add more breaks to towards the end of its run. But the contractor that built it didn't want to touch it after it was completed. HFE and the DollyWood company went to court and i think ended up winning because the construction company was supposed to put on the breaks before the ride even opened. DollyWood and HFE has thier own Construction team.

Silverwood seems like the type of park that would be a prime candidate for an RMC. I mean, RMC's headquarters is literally just down the road...

I'm sorry WHAT. Silverwood is a great park with its only downside being that it's in the middle of buttfuck no where. Tremors is also WAAAAY better than timber terror. Silverwood only belongs in the good surprise list, no idea how it was a let down. I say this even after traveling across the country to go to cedar point. Aftershock especially still holds up as one of the top coasters in NA.

Seaworld Orlando was a good surprise for me, I went over summer 2019 and every ride was a walk on except manta, which was an hour wait, but magically a storm came that lasted for maybe 20 minutes and after we went inside to grab lunch, the park was barren, I rode Mako 8 times in a row

Even though I’ve only been to kings dominion and six flags America since they are local, I have to say I enjoyed both of them. Though a lot of the rides at six flags were hit or miss with me, my favorite being the joker. I was lucky enough to be there when everything was working properly so I didn’t have to skip out on anything, though I would definitely rank kings dominion above it, especially with twisted timber’s which I rode for the first time not too long ago

I never understood why Dollywood gets all the praise when Silver Dollar City exists. SDC is a far superior park experience.

Love having CGA as my home park.

I went to Great America back when it was ran by Marriott back in the 80s, Demon is always my go to coaster.

11:19 😂 I woke my parents up from laughing

Elitch Gardens has been bad for years now. It is going to get bulldozed to make way for more apartments in the next few years, so I'm sure the owners spend basically zero money on it these days. I'm even surprised the Sidewinder got a fresh coat of paint. It used to be white.

I was sitting here expecting my home park to be number one bad experience but I was surprised when it wasn’t even on the list (Michigan’s adventure).

Worst park surprise was Magic Mountain on the first day. I went over the end of June. Crowd was terrible (They legit had switchbacks for TwiCo) X2 broke down just as I was about to get on it Didn't get my first credit until way past lunchtime at like 3 in the afternoon. Fortunately, the second day was MUCH better. Just wish I got more rides on Tatsu than just once. And there are still a few creds I need to pick up. But TwiCo was dueling so thats cool I guess. Best Park Surprise is actually 2 parks, SeaWorld Orlando and Busch Gardens Tampa Both had SUPER light crowds (I did go on a school day, after all) meaning I could marathon all my favorite rides there as many times as I wanted (For SWO, the only ride that had a decent line was Manta and for BGT the only one was Cheetah Hunt) I had a super long day at BGT (I had to leave early for SWO unfortunately) Nothing was broken down (Except for Phoenix which was SBNO)

That 2012 trip to Disney’s Magic Kingdom also was a timing issue for you. That park was in major flux at that point with the Fantasyland expansion not open yet so it was under serious construction. Also I don’t think it’s fair to call it “Disneyland East”.

Disney world amazing magic kingdom is more of a family park the one with the most thrill rides is Hollywood studios 10/10

I had a similar experience to yours at Elitch Gardens, but a year later! Sidewinder was shut for the whole day and Half-Pipe opened up right before I had to leave. Not sure if I just hated Twister II that much, but Mind Eraser was a very fun ride with minimal head banging (not even being sarcastic). Love your RU-vid channel and thanks for following me on Instagram!

Darien Lake is my home park, so I'm glad to see you had a pleasant experience. That being said, lay of Mind Eraser and Predator.

Worst Surprise for Me: Dorney Park on May 12th 2018 Best Surprise for Me: Moreys Piers on August 16th - 18th 2018

11:21 it’ll never get old Good Surprises: Six Flags New England, Kings Island, Universal Studios Florida (TNA Impact taping & Olivia Newton-John performed on my same visit) Bad Surprises: Six Flags Over Texas (half the coasters weren’t running), Six Flags America (It’s my funeral).

My biggest surprise was i305, it packed some intense moments, super fun and intense!

Gotta say as someone who lives in KCMO WoF has always been a bit disappointing especially after the Hunt family sold it and then it was later bought by Cedar fair. WoF has always been a little lacking on maintenance and none of the coasters are all that special. The prowler rides amazing in the rain. The Timberwolf is tolerable since a few elements have been re-done, and the patriot was good at its time but thats well passed now. WoF is the red headed step child of Cedar fair, their money maker is Oceans of Fun which is very well maintained for the most part. But honestly, you missing the Mamba is probably one of the best things that could've happened, half the ride time is the lift hill and the first drop is the only semi-impressing feature, the airtime hills at the end of the layout are more fun. The only way the Mamba is even worth riding is if you're in one of the back seats so it launches you up over the lift hill rather than dangling you at the edge of the drop. Sorry you had a bad experience, but... yeah. It's not really a "great" park by any means.

I had a good surprise at six flags over georgia, litteraly everything was open and had short lines and the people and staff wjere noce and all and all, it had good vibes.

2nd

Honestly, I think you should've excluded Magic Kingdom from the list altogether. Your experience there was tied to ingnorance, as opposed to genuine expectations and knowledge like the others. Your genuine thoughts on the park are yours (although I'll never be able to understand how you didn't know Epcot, Hollywood Studios and Animal Kingdom didn't exist before your first visit), but your justification for its placement on the list only really stick to it physically not being what you thought it was, nothing about it's genuine flaws

Keep in mind you go to some parks not for the rollercoasters or rides but the shows, the characters, the music, the atmosphere.

10:54 It hasn’t been Bizarro for awhile now

Number one expectation going into any park is their coasters are actually running! Biggest disappointments have always been when rides are shut down and that then drives your actual reality quite quickly. Kings island was a good surprise for you but it was a huge disappointment for me during Xmas holiday at the park cause I couldn’t believe they only had one coaster running despite being unseasonably warm. My fault not knowing going into it but by far my biggest disappointment to date.

Best Surprise: Coney Island Cyclone Worst Surprise: I was unable to ride Millenium Force and Top Thrill Dragster when I went to Cedar Point

As someone who's home park is Elitches, I both disagree and agree with you

I love Silver Dollar City! I havent been to all that many amusement parks, but silver dollar city would definitely be at the top of my list for good surprises too.

Airtime THrills Be Like: I will Go to SIX FLAGS greaT AmeRIcA This SUMerr. Me: Hi there but due to my home park Being six flags Great AmeriCa and It being a six flags Park I doubt it will open. I wish It would cuz its my home park. But lets be real Chris Six flags x Covid-19 = A bad time. Go to cedar point instead Its only 5 and a half Hours away from great america XD

Superman: Ride of Steel at Six Flags New England is now called Superman: the Ride, Bizzaro

With your #1 choice, on a good day it's pretty good. But on a bad day it can get pretty bad. Sucks you had a bad time.

It's too bad about Dollywood. My family has annual passes and we've never had a day like what you described. The only issue has been the Lighting Rod stuff but that hasn't been an issue for a while. I'd be pretty upset to see Thunderhead and Lightning Rod closed with Wild Eagle running one train. As for Magic Kingdom, I get what you're saying. I'm a huge Disney park fan but if you are used to Disneyland then Magic Kingdom can be a disappointment. It has a better castle as well as Country Bear Jamboree but it's always busier than Disneyland and it's missing several important rides.

Great video once again. One Darien Lake note... They only have 1 train ops. Several years ago the 2nd trains for Predator, Mind Eraser, Viper and Ride of Steel were removed altogether, supposedly cannibalized for parts. It's AWFUL. I live about 45 minutes away and I pretty much never go.

My 1st trip to cedar point was horrible. It was crowded on a Monday. Fast lanes lines like1 or 2 hours. Rainy and cloudy. Rides kept breaking down. And too thrill dragster was closed. I hope my next trip back is a hundred times better.!